A Delhi court has acquitted two men of the charges of possessing stolen tins of lubricants 14 years ago as the prosecution failed to prove that the recovered canisters were the ones which were stolen.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Manish Yaduvanshi absolved Uttar Pradesh natives of the charges of owning the mobil oil and coolant, stolen from a godown here in 1998 as key prosecution witnesses in the case turned hostile.
“In the absence of comprehensive proof to the effect that the recovered property was actually the stolen property, the police can’t sustain its charge under section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) of the IPC against the accused.
“In the result, the case of the prosecution has failed on both counts. Both the accused persons are accordingly acquitted from the charges,” the court said.
As per the police, Satish Kumar and Amar Bahadur had stolen 120 canisters of mobil oil and coolant from the godown of one S K Sehgal at Paharganj here in January 1998.
Sehgal had registered the complaint that one of his acquaintances Ashok Kapoor, owner of an automobile centre had told him that three persons had contacted for selling mobil oil at half rate. The police had then caught the accused and also recovered 51 boxes of mobil oil from their possession.
The court, however, acquitted the two accused saying as per the testimony of the complainant, 87 boxes were recovered from them which included boxes of brake oil and grease. But, the prosecution case was that only 51 boxes were recovered.
“As to in what circumstances, excess case property was produced which was inclusive of grease and brake oil is not explained on record.
“The complainant has also not provided specific mark or description by virtue of which he was able to identify the recovered boxes as the ones which were stolen from his godown,” the ACMM said.
